A ‘gut feeling’ led Hamilton Rugby Club coach David Gemmell to pitch in James Howatson in their crucial promotion clash on Saturday – and paid off as he bagged four tries.

A double by Ross Inglis and singles by Hugo Crush, Jordan McLean, Robert Brown, Josh White and a crowd-pleasing score by retiring Richie Maxton, plus 10 conversions by Andy Wilson, took the Bulls straight back up to BT National League 1 at the first time of asking, as they beat Whitecraigs 75-12 on Saturday.

Gemmell was delighted with the win, but said it was more or less a heads-or-tails shot with Howatson.

He said: “Whitecraigs put in a bit of a fight, we were absolutely sure they were going to, and an early try always settles the nerves.

“We were losing some of the races to the ball, and you can’t afford that, because possession is king.

“We settled down, we scored some lovely tries and Andy Wilson’s kicking performance was exceptional, with 10 out of 11 – and you could see how gutted he was when he missed the one.

“The tries were from all over the pitch, and we had a really close call at centre during the week, because it was either James Howatson or Ross Jamieson, and something in my gut said James should play.

“He played, he scored four tries and knocked people over for fun out there, he was fantastic.

“It’s so personally gratifying to see a coin-toss selection working so well for us.

“That’s two guys I’ve mentioned out of the team, but rugby is the ultimate team sport – you can’t win a game of rugby without your 14 mates round about you.

“It’s a squad game also, so we’re really talking about 19 people at a time, and then you have the general squad – we’ve probably used 40 guys this season, and it takes 40 guys to get yourself promoted.”